"It was nerve-racking": Australia defend their mixed relay rainbow jersey in another thrilling finale

The World Championships in Rwanda witnessed a big triumph of the Australian cycling on Wednesday. The mixed relays team consisting of Luke Plapp, Jay Vine and Michael Matthews on the men's part and Brodie Chapman, Amanda Spratt and Felicity Wilson-Haffenden as a women's trio was fastest over the 42-kilometer course (21 kilometers for both men and women), successfully defending their gold medals from Zurich.

A half of the Australian team was different year ago, but for Luke Plapp this was already a second rainbow jersey in the discipline. "It's awesome to do it with these boys," he told Eurosport afterwards.

It seems like the team time trial as a discipline really fits the Australians, an observation that Plapp can only second: "I think, as Aussies, it's actually probably a more special event than anything we do. We really rally riding together and doing team time trials, whether it's on the track or on the road. So I think it's a discipline that Australians love to do together. And it's awesome for these boys to go back to back and for Australia to be on the top again."

Last year's race remained a thriller until the last meters as the teams of Australia and Germany were separated by less than a second after 72 minutes in the saddles. And the 2025 edition was not a walk through the park either as the male trio could only wait anxiously to see whether their female colleagues would be able to convert a 33-second lead at exchange point into a victory against a strong Swiss trio led by fresh time trial world champion Marlene Reusser. And, ultimately, it was partly thanks to her mechanical problem that the Alpine country remained 5 seconds short of a victory.

"It was nerve-racking. I didn't believe it," Jay Vine admitted that he was losing hope as the advantage nearly diminished. His colleagues in the hot seat had more faith in the female colleagues. "These guys had more faith than I did with 200 metres to go. But, I mean, yeah, it's an amazing feeling. I got goosebumps multiple times in the last 30 minutes between them finishing and the podium. It's a really nice feeling."

With two titles, it really seems like Australians have a knack for the discipline. Michael Matthews can therefore place a second rainbow jersey in his palmares. The 34-year-old who came close to winning road gold also in the mass start event also wonders about the unlikely specialization of his nation: "I don't know. I think always with our trade, like with trade teams, with Jayco, we've always had a really good team time trial team," he explains that there has always been an extra emphasis on team time trials in Jayco AlUla.

He continues, adding that the successful track programme of Australia with vast collection of team pursuit medals certainly shows the great work being done in team disciplines: "So maybe it's an Australian thing. I don't know. But we seem to always do really well at team time trial events, whether it's on the track or on the road. So, yeah, it must be just our event."